Boston Red Sox add up Carl Crawford

Baseball, Misc | admin | December 9, 2010 at 8:06 am

Carl Crawford, arguably the top position player on the free-agent market, has been secured by the Red Sox with a seven-year, $142 million deal, two Major League sources have confirmed.

The somewhat stunning news was first reported by The Boston Globe via Twitter late Wednesday evening. The Red Sox have yet to announce the signing. There are still some details to be worked before the deal is official, including a physical.

The news came just hours after Epstein told the Boston media he didn’t think he was close to signing any position players.

“Great move. Great player,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, for whom signing free-agent left-hander Cliff Lee now takes on even greater urgency. “Boston’s got the money and they had a need.”

Crawford also becomes the first Red Sox player since John W. Henry and Tom Werner purchased the team in 2002 to be given a contract of seven years. General manager Theo Epstein evidently made a persuasive case to Henry late in the process to do so.

Crawford received four offers, according to a source close to the negotiations, with the Red Sox and Angels making the most substantial offers. The Angels made an offer that was termed extremely competitive with Boston’s offer.

The Red Sox had been aggressive in their pursuit of Crawford and Jayson Werth, the other elite outfielder eligible for free agency. Last week, Epstein flew to Houston to meet with Crawford, then met with Werth in Chicago.

But Sunday night, Werth was eliminated as a potential target when the Washington Nationals stunned their peers by signing the 31-year-old outfielder to a seven-year, $126 million deal.

The Red Sox as of 2 a.m. ET Thursday had not made any public comment confirming or denying the deal. As of that hour, Crawford’s physical in Boston had not yet been scheduled. Once he passes the physical, a news conference is expected to be held in Boston.

Boston now has a projected lineup that could look something like this on Opening Day: Jacoby Ellsbury CF, Dustin Pedroia 2B, Carl Crawford LF, Adrian Gonzalez 1B, Kevin Youkilis 1B, David Ortiz DH, J.D. Drew RF, Jarrod Saltalamacchia/Jason Varitek C, Marco Scutaro SS.

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